Tradition and novelty in the political-administrative organization of the Crown of Castille during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs

Abstract

In the Crown of Castile, the Catholic Monarchs set up a political and administrative building that laid the foundations of tradition, according to the necessities of the Crown and using the idea of “modernity” and future. In this structure of authorities and agencies, three institutions should be emphasized because they personify, from their establishment, the monarchical conception of Ferdinand and Isabella and, at the same time, they represent the spinal column of the new monarchy. We refer to the “Nueva Hermandad”, the Inquisition and the Army, the three most powerful instruments in the hands of the monarchs.